A sweet finish and some...

I just wanted to write a quick post to show my latest finish. I showed the top all put together here...now it is all finished...sandwiched...quilted...binding sewn...soft and tumbled...and as cute as can be!

This quilt will be donated somewhere...just not sure where yet.

The large panels made a nice canvas to do some FMQ. In the cheater fabric, I just echoed around the figures. In the all over Sunbonnet Sue blocks, I FMQ a ring of hearts, in the purple print panel, I quilted some diagonal lines, in the green print panel, I FMQ some interlocking hearts, and finally in the plain muslin panels, I FMQ some Sunbonnet Sue dolls.

Here is a close up.

Last weekend, my DH and I harvested our potatoes! It was quite a crop for a little backyard garden.

If you haven't tried growing potatoes, you should...they are fun to grow and harvest and yummy to eat!

Tonight is opening ceremonies for the Olympics! I love watching all the fun and competitions throughout the 2 weeks. 

I have some hand quilting ready to keep my hands busy while I watch.

Will you be watching?

Still at it...

paper piecing that is....I needed a few more Red White and Blue stars so I kept making more. And now I'm officially done with paper piecing stars...at least for a while. Here are my new ones...

All of the blocks above are from one of these Carol Doak's books: 50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars or 40 Bright & Bold Paper Pieced Blocks 

And finally, this 5-pointed star block. It was one that was part of the Celebrate Red White and Blue Blog Hop from Ellen over at Hot Pink Peonies. I had a bit of trouble getting the middle to lay flat...lots of seams coming together at unusual angles...but in the end, after some unstitching and restitching...it came together. I'm pleased with it!

So now there are 16 different paper~pieced stars!

To give them some personal space, I added a 1" sashing around the blocks using one of the blues from a couple of the blocks. Julie from Jaybird Quilts talks about quilts without borders in her book Skip the Borders...Sew...No borders...just sandwich, quilt and bind! Almost finished!

Pictures from Norway will be coming soon...it is taking a while to process the hundreds of photos

Sew Day

Have you heard of Operation Christmas Child? It is a great organization that provides shoe boxes full of toys and small items of need to under privileged children all over the world. I'm on the committee at my church and we wanted to extend this opportunity beyond Christmas time. 

So we came up with Christmas in July and a Sew Day! 

Our campaign was to make dresses out of pillowcases to be ready to put into shoeboxes in November. We asked for pillowcase donations and supplies needed to make the simple dresses. 

Last Wednesday was our Sew Day! Being the only sewist on the committee, I was in charge of demos and teaching how to make the dresses. There were refreshments...thankfully I was not in charge of that...my friend is much better qualified for presenting a beautiful table. We were ready but had no idea how much interest there was or how many would attend...it was an open house...come when you can and stay as long as you can.

Here are some pictures of our event.

About 50 women attended the event...a bit overwhelmed at how many ladies wanted to learn how to make the dresses and support OCC (Operation Christmas Child). We had women of all ages...mothers and daughters, aunts, friends...sewist and non~sewist...it was amazing!

We completed about 50 dresses! Each one as cute as the next!

The women that didn't sew but wanted to help, made labels to be attached to each dress. The excitement was infectious!

Can you see some of the dresses hanging from the blinds? Aren't they just adorable? The picture with the ladies in front of the dresses are the committee.

As in all 1st time events, we learned a lot! Our next Sew Day will be in October and although this was a fabulous, FUN event...we will be even better prepared. What a blessing!

Here they are!

Wow! What a world wind of inspiring blocks during the Red White and Blue Blog Hop! I want to thank all those that visited here. Your comments and encouragement meant a lot to me! 

Now, several of you asked for the patterns for the paper pieced stars which I drew. These included the Tennessee Star, Hawaii Star and the Star of Stripes. I finally had a chance to draw up the patterns to share. Thanks for your patience as I emerged back into life...jet lag...argh!

 Before I give the link, I wanted to give a few guide lines to my patterns. 

Each section that will be paper pieced together has a letter...A, B, C. Within those pieces, the sections are numbered 1, 2,3...etc. depending on the number of pieces to that section. When piecing, follow the number order.  

I also marked what color I used for each section. You can use that information and the pictures below  as a reference. Feel free to choose any color that you want. I also noted how to put together the sections to complete one quarter of the star. You need to make 4 for each star...make 4 copies of the pattern. 

Remember that when you paper piece, you are working from the back of the piece. If you are unfamiliar with this technique, I suggest that you look for some tutorials. I am not going to give a tutorial on paper piecing since there are many available online. 

One last bit of information...I am not very technical so I hope this works. I put a 1" square on each pattern so that you can tell if the pattern size is accurate. If you are having any problems, please leave me a comment or email and I will do my best to help. 

So without further adieu...

For Tennessee  Star 

For Hawaii Star

For Star of Stripes

Yesterday I spent the day helping my DD1 with her apartment. After a full morning of running around for needed supplies, we were able to finish one of the projects. 

This is a no sew Faux Roman Shade that she found on Pinterest. It is cleverly constructed and looks great! It doesn't raise or lower easily but this window is in the studio part of her place so it doesn't need to be closed often.

While running around getting supplies, look what I found at Hancock Fabrics. 

Heather Ross' line of fabric ~ Crafty Chloe. There is one more print in the line but the store I was in hadn't received it yet. The prints are too cute...with the Heather Ross unique look. I love them!

I caught up with one of my BOM...First Monday of the Month over at Quilt Story. July's theme is rounded. Here is my block...

...and all of them so far...can you see my mistake? 

My HST block was made with Kona Snow and my Hour Glass block with Kona White. It will drive me crazy so I will be remaking the Hour Glass block.

I have hundreds of photos of our Norway vacation but I will only post a few in the coming days...don't want to bore you with vacation overload...but Norway is so beautiful...I'll share the best! 

Tomorrow is a big event day...I'll be back soon to show and tell!

Celebrate Red White and Blue!

It is my turn to share my blocks for the Celebrate Red White and Blue blog hop hosted by Jane at Jane's Fabrics and Quilts and inspired by Madame Samm!


 There is quite a list of talented quilters on this hop and I have been out of the country for most of it. I have been doing my best to keep up. I love to see all the inspiration! So as soon as I'm finished showing you my blocks, I'm off to do some more hopping. 

If your new to my blog, a warm welcome! I'd love for you to stay a while and look around or come back another time to visit. 
Greetings to my loyal readers! I hope you have been enjoying the hop!

The first block that I made was the State of Tennessee block I found here. My first attempt used templates (ugh!) and after cutting them and the fabric out, I realized that they didn't fit together very well and the instructions were lacking. I still liked the star, so I decided to draw a paper pieced version. Sew Much Easier! 

I bravely wanted to do the State block of Hawaii from the same website. However, I decided to just go ahead and draw another paper piecing version instead of even trying the directions given. 

I am really enjoying paper piecing stars so I began my search. I checked out the blocks that I pinned on pinterest. Next up is the birthday star block found here.

I love how this star intertwines together.

Further searching for paper pieced stars lead me to this ribbon star and tutorial.

Using only fabric from my stash, so far no repeats!

Oh how I find great inspiration on Pinterest! Another star found here. 

And this one too! Found it here!

I love how this one reminds me of pennants!

So I found a similar one here...just a little different.

I think my block actually looks very different from Lee's block even though it is the same. It is amazing how fabric choice and color placement play in the outcome. 

The last block that I have completed is a vintage block that I saw here. This was displayed in Houston and is called Stars of Stripes.

I could not find a tutorial or pattern so I drew up a paper pieced version. 

I love how the stripes twirl around. 

I hoped you liked my parade of stars. My blocks are all 12 1/2" unfinished and all paper pieced. I'm not sure how I will layout my quilt...depends on how many more paper pieced stars I make. I'm having so much fun! 

So stay tuned! But for now, here they all are crowded on my new vintage table. 

 I didn't have time to write tutorials for any of the blocks (that I drew up). If you have questions about any, please leave me a comment and I will try to answer them.

Edit: I had this post completed before I left on vacation but I squeezed in another star block. Lynne from Lily's Quilt posted this paper pieced star and I just needed to make it. It fits so well with the other 'banner' stars.

It was fun to make. I love it!  

 Thanks for stopping by! 

Now won't you join me in hopping over to the others on the hop today? 

July 13th

Cat Patches

quilting by dawn (me)
Bobbie

Plum and June
Kathy H (Jane will host)

Sparrow In Flight

If you missed any of the hop, the complete list can be found here on Jane's blog.